The income of every age group has risen in Vietnam, except for people aged between 65 and 80.
Thisinformation was released at a conference about media and populationissues, held on December 3 in the northern port city of Hai Phong.
Theconference was organised by the Party Central Committee's Commissionfor Publicity and Education and the United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) in Vietnam.
Experts agreed that several factors could explain the bad economic outcomes for the elderly.
Changes in family composition and social norms may lead to more old people living alone.
Increased life expectancy meant that old people may exhaust their savings well before their death.
Governmentpolicies to ensure income protection of older persons, especially thosebetween 60 and 79 years old, are falling short.
Less than100,000 people, accounting for 1.3 percent of the population in that agegroup, receive monthly social pension, according to the lateststatistics of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social affairs.
Thestatistics also showed that some of the richer provinces had increasedthe social pension benefits, such as Hanoi with 350,000 VND (17 USD) andHo Chi Minh City with 240,000 VND (11 USD) per month. However, mostprovinces still apply the basic benefit level, as regulated in thegovernment's decree 13/2010/ND-CP issued in 2010, which is 180,000 VND(8.5 USD).
Due to fewer female workers participating in socialsecurity programmes, fewer women benefit from contributory pensions.Less than eight percent of the women above the age of 60 receive acontributory pension, whereas more than 12 percent of the men of thesame age group receive the pension.
Associate Professor Pham VanLinh, Deputy Director of the Party Central Committee's Commission forPublicity and Education, suggested that the government should considerdrawing up a medium-term comprehensive strategy to ensure incomesecurity in old age, including social pension and contributory pension,in order to provide a social protection net to older persons.
"Alonger term strategy for a comprehensive pension system and old agebenefits should be considered to ensure the coherence of socialinsurance and social assistance schemes," he said.
Arthur Erken,UNFPA representative in Vietnam, said, "The elderly are not thesociety's burden; they are also social workforces."
Thegovernment should quickly respond to the rapid ageing of the populationand seriously consider employment opportunities for older persons as ameans to ensuring income and social welfare for them, he said.
Policies and social welfare programmes for the elderly should quickly adapt to the increasing number of older people.
Thegovernment should also set up a social sponsoring system, strong enoughto ensure a combination of different generations in the society, saidArthur.
Agreeing with the idea, Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu fromthe National Economics University's Institute for Population and SocialIssues suggested that the issue of social welfare of the elderly shouldbe added to all development strategies.
The government couldapply a step-by-step method, while increasing social pensions for theelderly if the sources of funds are limited, he added.-VNA
Thisinformation was released at a conference about media and populationissues, held on December 3 in the northern port city of Hai Phong.
Theconference was organised by the Party Central Committee's Commissionfor Publicity and Education and the United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) in Vietnam.
Experts agreed that several factors could explain the bad economic outcomes for the elderly.
Changes in family composition and social norms may lead to more old people living alone.
Increased life expectancy meant that old people may exhaust their savings well before their death.
Governmentpolicies to ensure income protection of older persons, especially thosebetween 60 and 79 years old, are falling short.
Less than100,000 people, accounting for 1.3 percent of the population in that agegroup, receive monthly social pension, according to the lateststatistics of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social affairs.
Thestatistics also showed that some of the richer provinces had increasedthe social pension benefits, such as Hanoi with 350,000 VND (17 USD) andHo Chi Minh City with 240,000 VND (11 USD) per month. However, mostprovinces still apply the basic benefit level, as regulated in thegovernment's decree 13/2010/ND-CP issued in 2010, which is 180,000 VND(8.5 USD).
Due to fewer female workers participating in socialsecurity programmes, fewer women benefit from contributory pensions.Less than eight percent of the women above the age of 60 receive acontributory pension, whereas more than 12 percent of the men of thesame age group receive the pension.
Associate Professor Pham VanLinh, Deputy Director of the Party Central Committee's Commission forPublicity and Education, suggested that the government should considerdrawing up a medium-term comprehensive strategy to ensure incomesecurity in old age, including social pension and contributory pension,in order to provide a social protection net to older persons.
"Alonger term strategy for a comprehensive pension system and old agebenefits should be considered to ensure the coherence of socialinsurance and social assistance schemes," he said.
Arthur Erken,UNFPA representative in Vietnam, said, "The elderly are not thesociety's burden; they are also social workforces."
Thegovernment should quickly respond to the rapid ageing of the populationand seriously consider employment opportunities for older persons as ameans to ensuring income and social welfare for them, he said.
Policies and social welfare programmes for the elderly should quickly adapt to the increasing number of older people.
Thegovernment should also set up a social sponsoring system, strong enoughto ensure a combination of different generations in the society, saidArthur.
Agreeing with the idea, Professor Nguyen Dinh Cu fromthe National Economics University's Institute for Population and SocialIssues suggested that the issue of social welfare of the elderly shouldbe added to all development strategies.
The government couldapply a step-by-step method, while increasing social pensions for theelderly if the sources of funds are limited, he added.-VNA
